Can't make up my mind!

I was a competitive swimmer from 8-18, then stopped during freshman year due to burn-out. Got back to it at 40 (1 year ago). Was up to 90 minute swims using workouts from the internet. My goal was to enter a Masters swimming meet in distance freestyle without drowning. I was on my way. Enter health issues which have since resolved themselves :::crossing fingers:::, and had to be on bed rest for 6 months.
Have slowly started exercising again since November and finally felt good enough to jump back into the pool last week. This morning I swam for 1 hour, 3300 yds., which included 500 kick and 3 100 IM's with no rest, just to tease. Felt great, could have continued. That was my 4th "workout". Of course I'm eyeing that Master's schedule again and notice there is a meet coming up June 8 in my backyard. I'm wondering if I should just go for it, or if it would be too much too soon. There isn't too much of an offering of events, so I was going to start with the 800 free, since I have no sprinting ability whatsoever, yet my endurance has stayed with me.
Any words of advice?
Signed, Scared to death.

Re: Can't make up my mind!

Originally Posted by anita

I was a competitive swimmer from 8-18, then stopped during freshman year due to burn-out. Got back to it at 40 (1 year ago). Was up to 90 minute swims using workouts from the internet. My goal was to enter a Masters swimming meet in distance freestyle without drowning. I was on my way. Enter health issues which have since resolved themselves :::crossing fingers:::, and had to be on bed rest for 6 months.
Have slowly started exercising again since November and finally felt good enough to jump back into the pool last week. This morning I swam for 1 hour, 3300 yds., which included 500 kick and 3 100 IM's with no rest, just to tease. Felt great, could have continued. That was my 4th "workout". Of course I'm eyeing that Master's schedule again and notice there is a meet coming up June 8 in my backyard. I'm wondering if I should just go for it, or if it would be too much too soon. There isn't too much of an offering of events, so I was going to start with the 800 free, since I have no sprinting ability whatsoever, yet my endurance has stayed with me.
Any words of advice?
Signed, Scared to death.

go for it. you still have time to train a bit, and that first meet will give you a great baseline for improvement. no one will point or laugh; Master's isn't elementary school. Go out there, and do your best!

Re: Can't make up my mind!

If your concern is for your health, only your physician can answer that question. If your concern is the competition and whether you are ready, you are always "ready" for a Masters meet. The competition is friendly, and you can take it as seriously as you want to take it. Have fun and do your best.

Re: Can't make up my mind!

If you are physically ok per your doc, then go for it.

I was out of the water for 20 years and had serious back problems when I went to my first meet 4 weeks after starting back to swimming. I was fat, could barely bend over for the start, had no endurance or sprinting ability but I did get an idea of where I was starting from and most of all I MET SOME GREAT PEOPLE and HAD FUN!

Re: Can't make up my mind!

If you're not in danger of doing lasting physical harm, I say go for it. Then again, I don't swim anything longer than a 200 so what do I know. But go, have fun, meet other Masters swimmers and just enjoy yourself.

Re: Can't make up my mind!

Thanks for the encouragement! My health is stable, but swimming does take a lot out of me so I have to watch myself. If I can't make the upcoming meet, then I will keep up with the challenges/postals and make the next one.
Thanks everyone.

Re: Can't make up my mind!

Bed rest for long periods does not effect your swimming abilities in the long run. I had bed rest for 6 weeks went back too soon and was out of things for about 1 year after that. But the next year I went on to swim for Canada in the BE Games, then the Pan American Games and then The Olympics.

Get the OK to swim from the DR then go for it. I was a distance swimmer before I was sick and changed to sprints after that. Then when I was 30 I started marathon swimming.